The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1887-06-24
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Necessity Of Faith and Prayer
Forcibly Illustrated.
The Story OF Stephen, the Martyr, and the
Pictures Of Sublime Faith and
Trustful Prayer Presented
I'm His Death.

For the subject Of q recent sermon at
the Brooklyn Tabernacle Rev. T. Dewitt
Talmage took that of the Necessity
of Faith and Prayer" illustrating it
by the story of the martyr Stephen. His
text was:
Behold 1 see the heavens open. and the Son
of Man standingo on the right hand of God
Then they cried out with loud voice. and
stopped their ears. and ran upon him with one
accord
And cast hin, out of the city and stoned him:
and the witnesses LAID down their clothes at a
young mans feet whose name was Saul
And they stoned Stephen. calling upon God.
and saying. Lord Jesus receive my spirit.
And he kneeled down and cried with loud
voice Lord. lay not this sin 10 their charge.
And when he had said this, he fell asleep
ACTS, vii. 500
Stephen had been preaching a rousing
sermon. and the people could not stand il.
They resolved to do as men sometimes
would ike to do 10 this day, If they dared,
with some plain preacher of righteous
ness-kil him. The Gully way to silence
this man was TO knock the breath out of
him. SO they rushed stephen cut of the
gates of the city. and with curse,
and whoor, and below they brought
him TO the cliff, as was the
custom when they wanted to take away
life by stoning. Having brought him to
the edge Of the cliff they pushed him off.
After he had fallen they came and looked
down, aud seeing that he was not dead,
they began TO drop stones upon him, stone
after stone, stone after stone Amid this
horritle rain OF missiles Stephen clam
bers up on his knees and folds his hands.
while The blood drips from his temples to
he rIaaL-s he o.. aal-l hiS
ments. from his garments TO the ground:
and then. looking I'D ne makes two pray
ers-one for himself and oae for his mur-
derers:
Lord Jesus. receive nv spirit
That was for himse f.
Lcri, lag not this sin 10 their charge.
That was for his assaiIauts. Then. fro I'm
pain and loss of blool, he swoonei aw ay
and fell asleep.
want to show you 10 dav Ave pictures ;
Stephen gazing into Heaven; Steph ea
looking at Christ: Stephen stoned !;
Stephen in his dying prayer: Stephe Il
asleep.
First, look at Stephen gazing into
Heaven Before you take leap, YOU
want to know where you are going TO
land. Before you climb ladder. you
want 10 know 10 what pcint the ladd er
reaches. And it was right that Stephen,
within few moments OF Heaven should
be gazing into it. We wouli all do well
to be found in the same posture. man
of large wealth may have statuary in the
hall and paintings in the sitting-room, and
works of art in all parts Of the house, but
he has chief pictures in the art gallery.
and there, hour after hour, you walk with
catalogue and glass and ever increasing
admiration. Well. Heaven is the gallery
where God has gathered the chief treas
ures OF his realm. The whole universe is
his palace In this lower room where
we we stop there are many aiorn-
meuts-tessellated floor of anne hvst ard
blossom. and on the winding cloud-stairs
are stretched ont canvas on which COM
mingle azure, and purple, and SAT- ron.
and gold But Il .aven is the gallery in
viii the chief glories are gathered.
There are the brightest robes There are
the richestscrowns. There are the high
est exhilaratious. John SAYS of it:
The kings OF the earth shall bring their honor
AnG glory INTO IL
Aud see the procession forming, and
in the line come allempires- and the stars
spring up into an arch for the hosts to
march under. They keep. step to the
sound CT earthquake and the pitch Of
avalanche from the mountains and the
Tag they bear is the fame of a consumin =
world, and all Heaven turns out with
harps and trUmpets and nyriad-voiced
reclamation OF angelic dominion to well
come them in. and so the kings OF the
earth bring their honor and glory into IL.
Dc you wonder that good people often
stand ike stephen, looking into Heaven!
We have a great many friends there.
isolated in life cut there is some one IN
heaven with whom he once shook hands.
As man gets older, the number of his
celestial acquaintance very rapidly
multipics. We have not had one glimpse
of the N since the night we kissed them
good-bye and they went away, but still
we stand gazing into Heaven. As when
some Of our friends go across the sea. we
stand on the deck, or on the steam-tug,
and watch them. and after awhile the
hull Of the vessel disappears, and then
there is only a patch of sail on the sky.
and soon that is gone. and they are all cut
of sight. and vet we stand looking in the
same direction: so when our friends go
away FROM Us into the future world
we keep LOOKING down through
the narrows, and gazing and gazing as
though we expected they would come
cut and stand on some evening cloud, and
give Us one glimpse OF their blissful aad
TRANSPORTED faces.
While you long to join their companion.
ship and the years aad the days go with
such tedIum that they break your heart.
and the viper Of pain and sorrow and
bereavement keeps snawiag at your
vItals, you still stand. like Saepher, gaz =
ing into Heaven You wonder If they
have changed since you saw them last
You wonder if they would recognize your
face now, so changed has il been with
trouble. YOU wonder it. amid the
myriad delights they have, they care as
much for you as they used to when they
gave you a helping hand. and put their
shoulder uRder your burdens You Won
der if they look any older; and some
times, IN the evenins-tide, when the
house is all quiet. you wonder if you
should call them By their first name if
they would not answer; and perhs ps
some time you do make the experiment It.
AID when no one but God and yourself
are there you distinctly call there names,
and listen, and wait, and sit gazing into
Heaven
Pass on now. and see Stephen looking
upon Christ Ny text days he saw the
Son Of Man at the right hand of God.
Just how Christ looked in this world, just
how he looks in Heaven. we can not say.
A writer in the time of Christ says. de-
scrlolnS the Saviour's personal appear
ance, that he had blue eyes and light COM
piexlon, and very graceful structure:
but suppose II was all guess work The
painters Of Tie different ages have tried
10 imagine the features of Christ. and
put them on canvas: but We will have to
wait until with our own eyes We see him
AID with our own ears We can hear him